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Emily Wardill

Interview with Emily Wardill, from the studio of Henriette Heise, 00:59:36, February 24th 2022.

Published April 2022

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Interview on ‘Night for Day’, moving image cultures, arts education, research, feminism and working practices.

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Emily Wardill (*1977) lives and works in Lisbon, Portugal and Malmo, Sweden. 

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"Emily Wardill’s films, photographs, and objects probe the complexity of perception and communication, the question of how reality appears authentic to us, and the displacements of substance and form effected by the individual nature of the imagination. Her work has won acclaim for the sensual and psychologically fraught yet fractured narratives which she constructs. The films that she started making in the mid-2000s are typically defined by a narrative framework, but the plots as such tend to be secondary. The focus is on other aspects: the mechanics of storytelling, the relationship of imaginary space to language and the interplay between gesture and word."

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Secession

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Alongside the interview, on this page you will find documentation of Wardill's 'Bassness' exhibition at Rialto 6, a pdf of Wardill's publication 'Night for Day' detailing the concepts and processes that went into the production of the film, a detailed list of the sources displayed within in the interview, and a note from Apertura Institute.

Night for Day Installation shot, Rialto 6, 11/02/22. Photos taken by Vasco Stocker de Vilhena, courtesy of Rialto 6.

"Night for Day constructs a fake mother/son relationship to imagine what would happen if a communist utopian gave birth to a techno utopian and is installed as it was always intended to be shown – in a room divided into 2 by a black carpet as though it were a sandpit of half black and half white sand. Everything seems to be a stand in for the finished thing. The walls are painted in a black that wants to separate into three primary colors and images in the film come in 3s."

Emily Wardill et. al., Night for Day,, (Berlin: Revolver Publishing, 2020).

Sources in order of appearance:

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  1. Night for Day, Emily Wardill (Secession, Kohta, Stenar, 2020), 47'.

  2. Anne Tallentire, Documentation of Altered Tracks, 1987.

  3. work-seth/tallentire, Trailer: itinerary, 1998 – 2018, Hollybush Gardens, 22/11, 2018.

  4. Susan Hiller and Suzanne Treister, Monica Ross. Ethical Actions - A Critical Fine Arts Practice (Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2016), Book cover.

  5. Bernard G Mills, Monica Ross, ArtsLab, 1977.

  6. Monica Ross, Feministo: Women’s Postal Art Event – A portrait of the Artist as Housewife, ICA London, 10/06, 1977.

  7. Game Keepers Without Game, Emily Wardill (Spacex, Arts Council England, STANDARD (OSLO), De Appel, University of the Arts London and The Showroom, 2009), 76'.

  8. Loretta Fahrenholz, Small Habit Revolution, MUMOK, 2018.

  9. Loretta Fahrenholz, Circle Navel Nil, Lumiar Cité, 24/04-27/06, 2021.

  10. Ericka Beckman, You The Better in THE ST. PETERSBURG PARADOX, The Swiss Institute, 1983.

  11. Ericka Beckman, Hiatus 4, Mary Boone Gallery, 1999/2015.

  12. Dana Scruggs, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, New York Times, 2017. (Further research here).

  13. Stevie Wilson and Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Study and Struggle Critical Conversation #3: Abolition Must Be Red, Haymarket Books, 09/11, 2021.

  14. Eugene O'Neill, A Long Days Journey into Night (Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1956), Book cover.

  15. Carlotta Monterey, Eugene O'Neill, NPS Photo, (EUON 2104).

  16. Isabel do Carmo, Untitled (Arrest image), Museu do Aljube, 1970. (Further research here).

  17. Vanessa de Almeida, Mulheres da Clandestinidade, (Lisbon: Edições Parsifal, 2017), Book covers.

  18. Isabel Lindem, Mulheres de Armas. Histórias das brigadas revolucionárias, (Lisbon: Objectiva: 2012), Book cover.

  19. Isabel do Carmo and Isabel Lindim, Isabel e Bli: mãe e filha, memórias à parte, TSF Rádio Notícias, 2021, Video cover image.

  20. Siglia Magazine (If you can find links for this, email us).

  21. Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa, Sala Portugal, SAPO Viagens, 2016.

  22. Night for Day still of Antonio Teixeira Guerra's family home, Emily Wardill (Secession, Kohta, Stenar, 2020), 47'.

  23. Antonio Jose Teixeira Guerra, Confins, OpenEdition Journals, Accessed 2022.

  24. Serralves Livraria, Commerical Services/Bookshop, Accessed 2022.

  25. James Mackay, IMBD Profile, IMBD, Accessed 2022.

  26. Ray Dean, Portrait of Derek Jarman, 1965.

  27. Rembrandt van Rijn, The Abduction of Proserpine, 33.3 in x 31.3 in, Wikimedia, circa 1631.

  28. Susana de Sousa Dias, 48, (Ansgar Schafer, 2009), 92:50'.

  29. Susana de Sousa Dias, Luz Obscura, (Ansgar Schaerfer, Kintop, 2017), 75'.

  30. Raimundo Narciso, Susana de Sousa Dias - Grande Prémio do festival "Cinéma du Réel", ...Memórias .......da clandestinidade e outras mais recentes, 31/03, 2010.

  31. Young British Artists From The Saatchi Collection, Sensation, The Royal Academy of Arts, 1997.

  32. Abigail Lane, Freeze opening party Left to Right - Ian Davenport, Damien Hirst, Angela Bulloch, Fiona Rae, Stephen Park, Anya Gallaccio, Sarah Lucas and Gary Hume, London Port Authority Building, Surrey Docks., 1988.

  33. Franklin J. Schaffner, Planet of the Apes, (APJAC Productions, 1968), 112'.

  34. Joana Oliveira, Stephen Jay Gould, the Best Palaeontologist of the 20th Century, OpenMind BBVA, 10/09, 2017.

  35. The Doc, Stephen Jay Gould, Famous Scientists, 16/05, 2017. 

  36. Alan Rickman in Truly Madly Deeply, Anthony Minghella, (BBC Films, Lionheart, Winston, 1990), 106'.

  37. Alan Rickman in Die Hard, John McTiernan (Gordon Company, Silver Pictures, 1988), 132'.

  38. Alan Rickman in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Kevin Reynolds, (Morgan Creek Productions, 1991), 143'.

  39. Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Stills, #50, #64, #43, #3, #35, #10, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1977-1980.​

  40. barlavento, Casa cheia na homenagem ao arquiteto José Veloso em Portimão, barlavento Semanário Regional do Algarve, 10/12, 2019.

  41. CCA, The SAAL Process: Housing in Portugal 1974–76, Installation view, 2015. (Further reading here).

  42. Alexandre Alves Costa, Residents assembly meeting, Pavilhão dos Desportos, Porto, 5/04, 1975.

  43. CCA, The SAAL Process: Housing in Portugal 1974–76, Installation view, 2015.

  44. Artur Rosa, Textual materials documenting the administration of the SAAL brigade in the Bela Flor neighbourhood, Lisbon, File folder with documents, 31.8 x 25 x 6.8 cm, Coleção Artur Rosa, 1978.

  45. Eduardo Portugal, Bairro das Minhocas (next to the Rego metro), AML, 1939.

  46. Artur João Goulart, The homes of the Bairro da Liberdade climb the slope from the Avenida de Ceuta – now a busy motorway – around the feet of the Aqueduto das Águas Livres in Lisbon, Archivo Municipal de Lisboa, 1961

  47. Legacy Russell, Untitled, The Society Pages, 2012

  48. Legacy Russell, Glitch Feminism: A Manifesto, Verso, 2020, Book Cover

  49. Andreas Laszlo Konrath, Legacy Russell, New York Times, 2021.

  50. Justin Kaneps, Sherry Turkle, The New York Times, 2021.

  51. Sherry Turkle, Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other, (New York: Basic Books, 2011), Book cover.

  52. Jacques Offenbach, Tales of Hoffmann, The death of Antonia (act 2) in the original 1881 production, In front: Adèle Isaac; in back (left to right): Hippolyte Belhomme, Marguerite Ugalde, Pierre Grivot, Émile-Alexandre Taskin, Jean-Alexandre Talazac.

  53. Frédéric de Haenen, Fig. 30, in: Siegfried Kracauer: Jacques Offenbach und das Paris seiner Zeit, first edition, Amsterdam, 1937.

  54. A. F and Tarchon, Les contes d'Hoffmann, Antonia act, showing Antonia and Dr. Miracle, 1881.

  55. Jorit Aust, Secession, Vienna, Inexhibit, 2019.

  56. Rialto 6, 2022.

  57. Emily Wardill, Bassness poster, Rialto 6, 2022.

  58. Sick Serena and Dregs and Wreck and Wreck, Emily Wardill, (Bristol Mean Time and Film London, 2007), 12'.

  59. Getty Images/iStockphoto, Prehistory was a time of diverse social experimentation’: a 4,000-year-old cave drawing, The Guardian, 18th October 2021

  60. ullstein bild, David Graeber, N.D.

  61. David Graeber and David Wengrow, The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity, Macmillan, 2021.

  62. Sick Serena and Dregs and Wreck and Wreck, Emily Wardill, (Bristol Mean Time and Film London, 2007), 12'.

  63. Emily Wardill, Sea Oak, 2007, Film Still, galeriepcp

  64. Emily Wardill, Sea Oak / The Diamond, (Berlin: Kerber Verlag, 2008), Book cover.

  65. Emily Wardill, Sea Oak, 2008, Film Still, DACS/Artimage 2022.

  66. Ebay user 'easyboo', The Most Beautiful Rare Painted Bird Antique English Stained Glass Window, 1850-1899, Ebay, 2022.

  67. Newton and Company Limited, Magic lantern slide: Waterfall by night, The Kodak Collection at the National Media Museum, 1800-1899.

  68. Aubrey Franks Limited, Magic lantern projector with seven boxes of slides, made by Aubrey Franks Ltd, Manchester, c.1890., Science Museum Group Collection, The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum.

  69. Stan Narten/Courtesy the artist, Greene Naftali, New York, Hannah Haoffman, Los Angeles, and Electronic Arts Intermix, View of the exhibition “Collision/Coalition,” The Shed, New York, 2019, Art in America, 2021.

  70. Courtesy the artist and Getty Research Institute, Untitled (Portrait of Tony Cokes), CCVA, 2020.

  71. Tony Cokes, Evil.27:Selma, Film Still, Electronic Arts Intermix, New York, 2011.

  72. Timo Ohler, Tony Cokes, installation view, 10, Berlin Biennale, ZK/U Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik, Berlin, courtesy Tony Cokes; Greene Naftali, New York; Electronic Arts Intermix, New York, 2022.

  73. Author Unknown, Peter Gidal, Mubi, 2022.

  74. Peter Gidal (ed. Mark Webber), Flare Out: Aesthetics 1966-2016, London, The Visible Press, 2016.

  75. Peter Gidal, Materialist Film First Edition, Second Impression, London, Routledge, 1989, Book cover.

  76. Malcolm Le Grice, Peter Gidal building the London Film-Makers’ Co-operative projection booth at the Dairy, London, 1971, Artforum, April 2017, Vol. 55, No. 8.

  77. Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Film stills, clockwise from top left: Fear of Fear (1975), Satan's Brew (1975/76), Rio das Mortes (1970), The Merchant of Four Seasons (1971), Deutsches Filminstitut, Time, 2014.

  78. Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Film stills, clockwise from top left: Right Fist of Freedom (1974), Mother Küsters' Trip to Heaven (1975), Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1973), Effi Briest (1972-74), Deutsches Filminstitut, Time, 2014.

  79. Beate Nelken, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation, 1971.

  80. Florent Michel, Offspring, 2018, Pierre Huyghe / ADAGP, Paris, 2021.

  81. Ola Rindal, Portrait of Pierre Huyghe, 2019, Galerie Chantal Crousel, 2022.

  82. Pierre Huyghe, Exhibition View, In.Border.Deep., Los Angeles County Museum of Art November 23, 2014 – February 22, 2015.

  83. Unknown, Stan Douglas, art21, 2022.

  84. Stan Douglas, Still from Doppelgänger, 2019, Courtesy the artist, Victoria Miro, and David Zwirner, Interview Magazine, 2020.

  85. Kerstin Rogers, Steven Morrissey, 1984, Prabook, 2021.

  86. The Smiths, Louder than Bombs, 1987, Album Cover.

  87. The Smiths, The Queen Is Dead, 1986, Album Cover.

  88. The Smiths, The Charming Man, 1984, Album Cover.

  89. Unknown, Angela Melitopoulos, univie, 2018.

  90. Anders Sune Berg, Angela Melitopoulos, 'Crossings' (2017), Four-channel video and sixteen-channel audio installation, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, 2019. (Further research here, and here).

  91. Ericka Beckman, Super 8-Trilogy (We Imitate: We Break Up, The Broken Rule, Out of Hand), 1977-80, Philip Martin Gallery, 2022.

  92. Ericka Beckman, The Super-8 Trilogy, The Broken Rule, 1979.

  93. Susana de Sousa Dias, 48, (Ansgar Schafer, 2009), 92:50'.

  94. Susana de Sousa Dias, Luz Obscura, (Ansgar Schaerfer, Kintop, 2017), 75'.

  95. Raimundo Narciso, Susana de Sousa Dias - Grande Prémio do festival "Cinéma du Réel", ...Memórias .......da clandestinidade e outras mais recentes, 31/03, 2010.

  96. Unknown, João Pedro Rodrigues, SAPO, 2016.

  97. João Pedro Rodrigues, O Fantasma, Film Still, 2000.

  98. João Pedro Rodrigues, O Fantasma, Film Poster, 2000.

  99. Emily Wardill (et, al.), Night for Day, (Berlin: Revolver Publishing, 2020), Book cover.

  100. Studio Clause Due, Emily Wardill Artist’s book for the exhibition ‘Night For Day’ at Secession, Vienna, Sept – Nov 2020. Studio Clause Due, 2022.

  101. Emily Wardill (et, al.), Night for Day, (Berlin: Revolver Publishing, 2020), pp. 90-91.

  102. Christopher Williams, Untitled (Kunstverein Hamburg, Germany, 1997-1998), MoMA, 1997-8.

  103. Dion Tan, Christopher Williams Talks “Happiness” at MoMA, 2014.

  104. Christopher Williams, Untitled (Texte zur Kunst, Kassel, Germany, 1992), MoMA, 1992.

  105. Unknown, Clause Due, Studio Clause Due, Facebook, 2019.

  106. Unknown, Grafisk designer Claus Due fra Studio Claus Due til trykstart på ‘True Life’, Bogen udgives af ‘Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König’, Narayana Press, 2020.

  107. Studio Clause Due, Alex da Corte Catalogue of the exhibition ‘Slow Graffiti’ at Secession, Vienna, July – Sept 2017, Studio Clause Due, 2022.

  108. Studio Clause Due, Emily Wardill Artist’s book for the exhibition ‘Night For Day’ at Secession, Vienna, Sept – Nov 2020. Studio Clause Due, 2022.

  109. Unknown, Kerstin Stakemeier, Dutch Art Institute, Roaming Academy, 2022.

  110. Susanne Witzgall and Kerstin Stakemeier, Fragile Identities, (Berlin: DIAPHANES, 2017).

  111. Karin Alfredsson, Marta Kuzma, YaleNews, 2016.

  112. Marta Kuzma and Hannah Ryggen, dOCUMENTA (13) 100 Notes - 100 Thoughts, (Berlin: Ganske Publishing Group, 2012), Book cover.

  113. David Mabb, Historical Materialism: Research in Critical Marxist Theory, (Leiden: Brill, 2012), Cover.

  114. Hannah Proctor in Night for Day, (Berlin: Revolver Publishing, 2020), pp. 36-37

  115. FarO, farO SEMANA 0 JACOB'S LADDER, FarO, 2022.

  116. FarO, farO SEMANA 3 FOOD OBSERVATION, FarO, 2022.

  117. FarO, farO SEMANA 5 THIS, FarO, 2022.

  118. Unknown, Salomé Lamas, dafilms, 2022.

  119. Salomé Lamas, Hotel Royal (2021), Film Poster, O Som e a Fúria, IMDb.

  120. Salomé Lamas, Terra de Ninguém (2012), Film Poster, IMDb.

  121. Salomé Lamas, Fatamorgana (2018), Film Poster, Letterboxd.

  122. Unknown, Igor Jesus, Revista RUA, 2020.

  123. Igor Jesus, Screenshot of IDe costas voltadas (2015), Cabeça (2019), Safelight (2019), artsy, 2022.

  124. Joana Linda, Artist Talk: Alexandre Estrela, Trienal de Arquitectura de Lisboa, 2021.

  125. Alexandre Estrela, Um Mês Acordado (2018), Galeria Zé dos Bois, 2022.

  126. Alexandre Estrela, A Third Reason (2021), Vasco Stocker de Vilhena, Umbigo Magazine, 2021.

  127. João Maria Gusmão & Pedro Paiva, Fortes D'Aloia & Gabriel, 2018, Frieze, 2020.

  128. João Maria Gusmão & Pedro Paiva, Lusque-Fusque Arrebol, 2021, Cristina Guerra Contemporary Art, 2022.

  129. Alexandre Estrela & João Maria Gusmão, Somewhere beyond refraction, 2021, Contemporary Art Library, 2022.

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Final note:

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Apertura Institute is grateful to Emily Wardill for this in-depth interview, and for giving us the freedom to experiment with the visual presentation of the research discussed. We chose to leave the interview in its sequentially unedited full form, in the spirit of Carla Lonzi's 'L'autoritratto'.

Wardill's perspectives on topics of feminist practices, in tandem with her gesture of recording the zoom interview with equally sized screens, and the added context of her situated-ness within her friend Henriette Heise's studio, all connects directly to our Living Manifesto and to actively creates a method for forming non-hierarchical research cultures and communities centred in open discussion. 

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